Your thoughts may cycle endlessly around work, even after you leave the office or log off for the day. Maybe you have difficulty turning off your brain in the evenings or on the weekends. You may feel overloaded, overwhelmed, or consumed by your work. Your personal relationships might suffer due to your lack of presence in them. You may begin to feel that between work and home, you’ve got too many balls in the air and are struggling to keep it all together.
If the factors causing the stress persist, then this can become your “normal” state, but the reality is, a sustained state of stress is anything but normal. Stress is not inherently bad — it’s actually a vital component of our sympathetic nervous system or our fight-or-flight instinct. However, too much stress can weaken the immune system and lead to disease. In fact, emotional stress has been found to be a major contributing factor to the six leading causes of death in the United States. It’s important to note the signs of stress before it gets out of hand and to seek help when necessary.